We've been hearing about Verizon's intentions to end
unlimited data plans for quite some time. We first heard about the possibility
of a tiered
data strategy in fall 2010, and it looks as though Verizon is now gearing
up to implement the new strategy this summer.

To soften the blow, Verizon Wireless will offer "Family”
data plans that allow multiple smartphones or tablets to share a large pool
of data per month according to Reuters. This move has been a long time coming as customers have long
been able to share minutes, but data packages have always been assigned to each
individual phone line at $30 a pop.

"I think it's safe to assume that at some point you are
going to have mega-plans (for data) and people are going to share that
mega-plan based on the number of devices within their family," said
Verizon CFO Fran Shammo. "That's just a logical progression."

Shammo also alluded to the fact that the next generation
iPhone will be a "world phone". The baseband chip used in Verizon's
version of the iPhone supports GSM, but it is currently disabled. However,
Shammo indicated that the next iPhone will "work in as many countries as
AT&T's iPhone" and will launch at the same time (instead
of 6 months later as was the case with the Verizon iPhone 4).

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This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled

And I'm certain if Sprint doesn't go there too, then Verizon will just buy them out.

Seriously, we're not paying for the data, so we shouldn't be charged for the amount of data. We're not asking AT&T/Verizon's infrastructure to store the data- it is merely a transport mechanism. We "pay" the content providers for the amount of data.

And what's the important figure that we're paying for when it comes to the service of a transport mechanism? That's right performance.

This free market has not brought consumers the choice that we're told are the benefits of a free market- it has only taken away choices and consolidated thus far. Their profits would crack if they billed us based on sustained throughput rather than amount. It would expose the flaws in the services they provide, and would force them to improve service. Sustained throughput is what defines the experience (and ultimately is what the consumer pays for) of the service. The amount of data we consume is dependent on the experience provided by the content providers, and that's what we pay THEM for. In paying carriers for the amount of data we can transact rather than at the rate of transaction, they're pretending like they're creating the content we consume, rather than simply being the I/O mechanism that they're supposed to be.

"I'd be pissed too, but you didn't have to go all Minority Report on his ass!" -- Jon Stewart on police raiding Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's home